Arria NLG plc (AIM:NLG), a technology leader in the development and deployment of Natural Language Generation (“NLG”), is to be granted a patent on its Method, Apparatus, and Computer Program Product for User-Directed Reporting from the US Patent and Trademark Office, its eighth patent to date. The Company’s Chief Development Scientist, Dr. Somayajulu Sripada, created this important new feature, part of the Arria NLG Platform.
The patent covers a new feature of Arria NLG’s products, which automates real-time data analysis and generates reports using language that follows intuitive rules for how humans communicate and comprehend information.
The innovations protected by the new patent provide users of the Arria NLG Platform with an added level of control to query their data to achieve a deeper understanding.
Users can direct the report output by changing the data parameters to refine its focus and apply the embedded subject matter expertise to quickly interrogate their data at the click of a mouse. For example, financial analyst who receive an NLG report analysing an entire year of sales data can use an interface to focus the report on the most recent quarter or on one or a combination of geographic regions, or by using any other search criteria that they specify. With one click, the NLG Platform searches the data afresh, conducts pre-programmed analysis and produces an amended report responding to the new query.
This, Arria’s eighth patent, covers flexible modification of search parameters not only for reports that may be generated with Arria NLG’s advanced artificial intelligence technology, but also with more rudimentary, template based NLG systems offered by several of Arria NLG’s competitors.
The new patent is part of a broad diversification plan that Arria NLG has instituted to enhance versatility and improve ease of use, as well as to increase the analytic power and actionable conclusions of its NLG products.
Beginning with the Arria NLG Engine that was capable of applying pre-programmed subject matter expertise to analysis and narrative reporting on a prescribed data set, the team behind the Arria NLG Platform has built features into the Platform that now permit:
1. user modification of reporting parameters (this 8th patent);
2. the generation of graphs with NLG annotations;
3. integration of annotated graphs and charts into NLG narrative reports;
4. user drill-down into the data and analytics supporting the automated report; and
5. recursive looping of analytic results to enable variance analysis.
The Directors expect that later this year, Arria NLG will launch Recount, its first software as a service (“SaaS”) product offering these features and others to accountants and financial managers worldwide. The Company also expects to introduce Software Development Kit (SDK) 5.0, an automated NLG report-generating software toolkit permitting developers, without NLG training, to embed Arria NLG analytics and reporting into their software and websites.
Stuart Rogers, Chairman and Chief Executive of Arria NLG, stated: “This Arria NLG patent opens up automated analysis and reporting to interactive querying and modification so that a user can shape the NLG report to their ‘up-to-the-minute’ needs.
“The ultimate goals of our current product development effort are to automate the generation of natural language narratives within websites and to enable professionals in numerous fields to increase their analytical power and reach by creating their own applications for automated analysis and reporting from structured data. Just as today’s professionals need to apply their subject matter expertise and report their conclusions persuasively, in the future these same professionals will be able to raise the power of their expertise by automating the analysis and reporting of many of their key functions, increasing expert productivity and enhancing their value to their enterprise.
We continue to invest in patenting our IP, with this our eighth patent to date and fifth in 2016. Protecting our products and critical processes safeguards our position as one of the leading developers of AI and NLG innovations and illustrates our dedication to securing long-term value for our shareholders.”
